Onboard Explora 1 (Sept 25- Oct 13) with Hank

[Hlitner]

While I am in a negative mood from lack of communication, I thought it might be fun to test my theory of inflexibility.  They make good pizza in the Emporium, but the toppings have stabilized to the same o same o.  Near the pizza station they have a sandwich station which has a bin of pepperoni.  So, DW dared to ask the excellent pizza chef if he would make us a margarita with pepperoni?  He looked shocked and said NO.  Apparently that is not authorized by Geneva or the executive chef.  A bit like programmed robots.  Again comparing to Seabourn, such a request would quickly get a yes response.  
 

Hank

[Whipsnade]

Guest relations in Explora is useless. Less than useless. They know nothing and do not really know how to find any answers. We are all used to well trained Concierges on luxury ships. I could make a few other comments but it would probably get me kicked off. 

[Whipsnade]

Beignets in Marble are anything but beignets. Dreadful. Need to get some lessons from New Orleans. 
Berry doublers get old pretty fast. 
No one mentions the excellent hot puddings off to the side at dessert area in Emporium. All excellent with some ice cream. 

[Nunagoras]

1 hour ago, jsea said:

One oddity: emergency pathway lighting has been on the entire voyage. Perhaps my memory is failing me, but I don’t recall this being active at all times on other ships.

 

Same on any mainstream MSC cruise, and I agree with that procedure. You never know when or the other day you'll need it. That should have been standard elsewhere.

[jsea]

Roasted black sesame ice cream at Sakura = 🤤.

[happy cruzin]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

While I am in a negative mood from lack of communication, I thought it might be fun to test my theory of inflexibility.  They make good pizza in the Emporium, but the toppings have stabilized to the same o same o.  Near the pizza station they have a sandwich station which has a bin of pepperoni.  So, DW dared to ask the excellent pizza chef if he would make us a margarita with pepperoni?  He looked shocked and said NO.  Apparently that is not authorized by Geneva or the executive chef.  A bit like programmed robots.  Again comparing to Seabourn, such a request would quickly get a yes response.  
 

Hank

Wow....that has to be frustrating!

[Waltershipman]

42 minutes ago, jsea said:

Roasted black sesame ice cream at Sakura = 🤤.

Just had it loved it

[Hlitner]

3 minutes ago, Waltershipman said:

Just had it loved it

We have loved everything about Sakura.  

[aururab]

 

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

While I am in a negative mood from lack of communication, I thought it might be fun to test my theory of inflexibility.  They make good pizza in the Emporium, but the toppings have stabilized to the same o same o.  Near the pizza station they have a sandwich station which has a bin of pepperoni.  So, DW dared to ask the excellent pizza chef if he would make us a margarita with pepperoni?  He looked shocked and said NO.  Apparently that is not authorized by Geneva or the executive chef.  A bit like programmed robots.  Again comparing to Seabourn, such a request would quickly get a yes response.  
 

Hank

 

My Italian friends would likely say, it isn’t so much bad customer service as very Italian customer service.

 

The waiter at a small restaurant on Ischia once went and go the chef when my mom ordered Ameretto before dinner, who then proceeded  to give her a stern talking to regarding how things are supposed to be done! 

[Stickman1990]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

So, DW dared to ask the excellent pizza chef if he would make us a margarita with pepperoni?  He looked shocked and said NO.  Apparently that is not authorized by Geneva or the executive chef.  A bit like programmed robots.  

Did you try asking the maître d of the Emporium? What was their response?

 

Asking the basic line cook to vary the recipes is unlikely to meet with success but I suspect if you asked a more senior chef who is actually responsible for a section or staff you might get a better result 

 

We made it a point to thank the senior chefs in Emporium who were responsible for multiple stations and found them very responsive to our requests 

[Stickman1990]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Again comparing to Seabourn, such a request would quickly get a yes response.  

Certainly not our experience on Seabourn. Try asking for ANY variation in the Thomas Keller restaurant and see what response you get 

[jsea]

I have never asked for a modification on Seabourn, but isn’t TK known for being run by TK “himself” and not the cruise line? Even down to the specific volume at which background music is played?

[artbcpa]

I was wondering if there has been any discussion onboard about tropical storm Philippe. I am not exactly sure where you are at this moment or whether the storm will impact your cruise. The winds don't seem to be as big a factor as the torrential rain expected. Here is some information from AccuWeather. 

 

The latest AccuWeather Eye Path takes Philippe inland over Maine late Saturday night to Sunday morning as a tropical wind and rainstorm prior to making landfall. Due to the anticipated impacts of heavy rainfall and gusty winds, Philippe has been rated "less than one" on the AccuWeather Real Impact Scale for Hurricanes in new England and Atlantic Canada.

 

A broad zone of tropical -storm-force wind gusts ranging from 40-60 mph (64 to 97 km/h) will extend from Northeaster Maine through much of the gulf of St. Lawrence region in Canada. The bulk of the rain associated directly with Philippe will focus from Maine to southeastern Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. A general 1-4 inches of rain will fall in this area with locally higher amounts.

 

Of equal interest to me was this statement about the long lasting chill to follow Philippe since we are on the next leg of the cruise.

 

Philippe's interaction with the jet stream will lead to an extended period of November-like weather for much of the Northeast and Atlantic Canada next week. Snow is even in the AccuWeather forecast for parts of Quebec and upstate New York.

 

 

[Waltershipman]

28 minutes ago, jsea said:

I have never asked for a modification on Seabourn, but isn’t TK known for being run by TK “himself” and not the cruise line? Even down to the specific volume at which background music is played?

Thats my understanding we were told that rhey fax him photos of food everyday for his approval

[Waltershipman]

27 minutes ago, artbcpa said:

I was wondering if there has been any discussion onboard about tropical storm Philippe. I am not exactly sure where you are at this moment or whether the storm will impact your cruise. The winds don't seem to be as big a factor as the torrential rain expected. Here is some information from AccuWeather. 

 

The latest AccuWeather Eye Path takes Philippe inland over Maine late Saturday night to Sunday morning as a tropical wind and rainstorm prior to making landfall. Due to the anticipated impacts of heavy rainfall and gusty winds, Philippe has been rated "less than one" on the AccuWeather Real Impact Scale for Hurricanes in new England and Atlantic Canada.

 

A broad zone of tropical -storm-force wind gusts ranging from 40-60 mph (64 to 97 km/h) will extend from Northeaster Maine through much of the gulf of St. Lawrence region in Canada. The bulk of the rain associated directly with Philippe will focus from Maine to southeastern Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. A general 1-4 inches of rain will fall in this area with locally higher amounts.

 

Of equal interest to me was this statement about the long lasting chill to follow Philippe since we are on the next leg of the cruise.

 

Philippe's interaction with the jet stream will lead to an extended period of November-like weather for much of the Northeast and Atlantic Canada next week. Snow is even in the AccuWeather forecast for parts of Quebec and upstate New York.

 

 

Wow very interesting we shall see

[Hlitner]

33 minutes ago, artbcpa said:

I was wondering if there has been any discussion onboard about tropical storm Philippe. I am not exactly sure where you are at this moment or whether the storm will impact your cruise. The winds don't seem to be as big a factor as the torrential rain expected. Here is some information from AccuWeather. 

 

The latest AccuWeather Eye Path takes Philippe inland over Maine late Saturday night to Sunday morning as a tropical wind and rainstorm prior to making landfall. Due to the anticipated impacts of heavy rainfall and gusty winds, Philippe has been rated "less than one" on the AccuWeather Real Impact Scale for Hurricanes in new England and Atlantic Canada.

 

A broad zone of tropical -storm-force wind gusts ranging from 40-60 mph (64 to 97 km/h) will extend from Northeaster Maine through much of the gulf of St. Lawrence region in Canada. The bulk of the rain associated directly with Philippe will focus from Maine to southeastern Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. A general 1-4 inches of rain will fall in this area with locally higher amounts.

 

Of equal interest to me was this statement about the long lasting chill to follow Philippe since we are on the next leg of the cruise.

 

Philippe's interaction with the jet stream will lead to an extended period of November-like weather for much of the Northeast and Atlantic Canada next week. Snow is even in the AccuWeather forecast for parts of Quebec and upstate New York.

 

 

Per my post from this morning, our Sunday visit to Charlottetown has been cancelled....but nobody has yet to officially inform the "guests."  on this vessel.  As is the norm, the paying customers are among the last to know.  If you look at the port of Charlottetown's web site (or subscribe to their texts) it shows that our Sunday visit (along with the Norwegian Joy's) have been cancelled.  This has been on their web site for some time.  

 

Hank

[florisdekort]

2 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

Certainly not our experience on Seabourn. Try asking for ANY variation in the Thomas Keller restaurant and see what response you get 

That’s a bit unfair as it’s the only exception on Seabourn and that’s very clearly communicated. 3-Michelin star Chef Keller simply doesn’t allow guests to alter his food 🤣

 

[uktog]

32 minutes ago, florisdekort said:

That’s a bit unfair as it’s the only exception on Seabourn and that’s very clearly communicated. 3-Michelin star Chef Keller simply doesn’t allow guests to alter his food 🤣

 

Does any 3 star chef do except by prior arrangements for severe allergy reasons ( and in our experience that’s 96 hours)

[Stickman1990]

6 minutes ago, uktog said:

Does any 3 star chef do except by prior arrangements for severe allergy reasons ( and in our experience that’s 96 hours)

You’re seriously suggesting those items they serve on Seabourn in TK are of a Michelin 3 star Chef standard?

 

Oh well if that’s the excuse Seabourn chooses for not catering to their guests requirements when they are advised months in advance of dietary issues then so be it (far far longer than 96 hours)

[Hlitner]

2 minutes ago, Stickman1990 said:

You’re seriously suggesting those items they serve on Seabourn in TK are of a Michelin 3 star Chef standard?

 

Oh well if that’s the excuse Seabourn chooses for not catering to their guests requirements when they are advised months in advance of dietary issues then so be it (far far longer than 96 hours)

You miss the point. Keller designed the menu for a ship and also maintains control over the dedicated onboard chefs.  Seabourn will gladly deal with dietary issues/requests in their other venues where they maintain complete control.  There is a similar situation here on EJ where we cannot even get a menu for Anthology since it is mostly controlled by the Guest Chef who is a Michelin 2• chef.  And unlike the TK grill which has no extra charge, it costs a couple $530 to go to Anthology with their mystery menu.

 

Hank

[happy cruzin]

17 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

You miss the point. Keller designed the menu for a ship and also maintains control over the dedicated onboard chefs.  Seabourn will gladly deal with dietary issues/requests in their other venues where they maintain complete control.  There is a similar situation here on EJ where we cannot even get a menu for Anthology since it is mostly controlled by the Guest Chef who is a Michelin 2• chef.  And unlike the TK grill which has no extra charge, it costs a couple $530 to go to Anthology with their mystery menu.

 

Hank

Hank - 

 

No idea how close this is to what is really happening. But, I assume you’ve seen the current Anthology menu that is listed on the EJ website??

 

 

 

Edited October 6, 2023 by happy cruzin

[Whipsnade]

Hiltner is exactly right. Starred  chefs capitalize on their “stardom” (as well they should) by merchandising themselves to cruise lines etc. They create menus (or have them created in their names) and perhaps have a hand in picking on board chefs. That is about it. They might come on board once a year and parade around in a chef outfit and toque for a couple days.  But don’t be fooled in thinking the onboard experience/meal is going to be anything like the one you would be served in an actual starred restaurant with the same name. You are already paying a premium price to eat on luxury ships and then to be asked to pay a whopping amount more to dine in a room with the name of a starred chef above it seems to me to be a giant ripoff regardless of which cruise ship (company) it is. 
But it works!   These restaurants regularly attract well heeled passengers who may not dine regularly in starred restaurants and covet the prestige that accompanies dining in a star named establishment. 
I am sure I will now get whacked by a few on this thread. So be it. 

[TER777]

When I was on EJ in August all the restaurants did a fine job of handling my food allergies as long as I ordered dinner by I think it was 10am that day including Anthology. 

[aururab]

How accommodating have the restaurants outside of anthology) been at accommodating picky eaters? 

[Hlitner]

12 hours ago, happy cruzin said:

Hank - 

 

No idea how close this is to what is really happening. But, I assume you’ve seen the current Anthology menu that is listed on the EJ website??

 

 

 

Thanks for posting.  There is no information provided onboard other than the standard “we don’t know” answer to most questions.